You may recognize Rickey Medlocke from the bands Lynyrd Skynyrd and Blackfoot. Recently, Rickey recorded a single with the Rickey Medlocke Band, “Never Run Out Of Road.” We caught up with him by Zoom to discuss the single and the causes it supports. I immediately mentioned to Rickey the ‘Haunting” sound of the song. He shared with us how the Rickey Medlocke band and the song came to be. This song started with Rickey and Charlie Starr of Blackberry Smoke. Around this time Rock The Cause Records became a part of the project. Obviously with the company name, they like to do records connected to charity causes.

It clicked with Rickey right away that this was his chance to do something with the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) Movement that he’d already been involved with for many years. Then he contacted his friend actor Gil Birmingham of “Yellowstone” fame. Gil mentioned that “Yellowstone” creator Taylor Sheridan donated to charities connected to the MMIW. That’s how it came about that a portion of proceeds from downloads and streams of “Never Run Out Of Road”, will be directed to the National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center (NIWRC), an organization that works to end gender-based violence against Native American women. Other charities that will benefit from the single include The Dreamcatcher Foundation and more.

Rickey’s goal throughout all this is to bring awareness of a problem that exists out there every day. This is something that has been going on for decades and is at “Epidemic proportions.” The victims range from native children to older adults, many of them do not survive. “The way this whole thing goes nobody ever thinks about native women, nobody ever thinks about indigenous people. That’s not on the tongues of many people at all.”

At this point we discussed a statistic that was in the single’s press release “In a study conducted at four sites throughout the US and Canada, an average of 40% of women involved in sex trafficking identified as Native American or First Nations.  When taking into account that Native women demographically only comprise less than 10% of the general population, the weight of this study’s statistic becomes shocking.” Where it may be difficult for some people to comprehend this in their everyday life, living on a reservation is quite different. We took some time to speak about that. We also discussed this issue finding it’s way into film and tv. I related to Rickey a story that was part of the tv news magazine “Dateline” that I had seen. After we spoke, I went back and realized it was the story of an indigenous woman named Sonya Ivanoff.

You can stream and download “Never Run Out Of Road” at RickeyMedlocke.com and even find links to the charities it supports there as well. As Rickey told me, “I’m not asking for the world. But, I am asking for people, you know, to help out and get involved. You know, if you know something, or see something, or whatever, get involved, don’t be quiet.”

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